20 best black and white movies worth watching even now

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

These masterpieces of world cinema have received many awards and have become leaders in prestigious ratings.

1. Nosferatu, a symphony of horror

• Germany, 1922.
• Horror.
• Duration: 94 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 0.

A classic silent film by the German filmmaker Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, included in the Empire magazine's list of the 100 best films in world cinema.

It was after the release of Nosferatu that the legend that a vampire could die from sunlight began to be used in other works. This was never mentioned before, not even in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, based on which the Symphony of Horror was created.

Decades later, other directors made various remakes of Nosferatu. One of them - "Shadow of the Vampire" in 2000 with John Malkovich - claims that a real vampire took part in the filming of the picture almost a century ago.

2. City lights

• USA, 1931.
• Drama, melodrama, comedy.
• Duration: 87 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 6.

Charles Chaplin's silent comedy film about the relationship between a vagabond and a blind flower girl, filmed at a time when talkies had existed for several years.

The film ranks first in the list of the 10 best romantic comedies according to the American Film Institute and is included in the US National Film Register.

3. It happened one night

• USA, 1934.
• A romantic comedy, road movie.
• Duration: 105 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

A film about the road trip of a loser reporter and the daughter of a millionaire. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert starred.

This two-tone film, for the first time in history, won five Oscars at once in the main categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. Later, only two color films succeeded: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

4. Citizen Kane

• United States, 1941.
• Drama.
• Duration: 119 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 4.

The first feature film by Orson Welles, which was named the best film of all time by the British Film Institute five times.

The film tells the story of the life of a media mogul who uses money and power to satisfy his own whims. The action takes place against the backdrop of a journalistic investigation, the purpose of which is to find out why Kane pronounced the word rosebud before his death.

Citizen Kane won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay.

5. Bicycle thieves

• Italy, 1948.
• Drama.
• Duration: 89 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

Vittorio de Sica's film about the head of a family trying to provide for his loved ones in the post-war period has become a classic of neorelism. The film won a special Academy Award, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and Golden Globe Awards. It consistently ranks in the first hundred of the IMDb rating and is one of the top lines in the list of the 100 greatest films in the world.

6. Sunset Boulevard

• USA, 1950.
• Drama, noir.
• Duration: 110 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

A young screenwriter accidentally ends up in the mansion of a fading Hollywood actress who lives with the illusion that she is still a star. Having agreed to help her work on a hopeless scenario, the hero remains to live in the mansion. But soon it becomes a hindrance to his new romance.

One of the best works of director Billy Wilder takes the viewer not so much with a plot intrigue as with a tragic predetermination: at the very beginning, the viewer sees the corpse of the protagonist floating in the water. The film won three Oscars and four Golden Globes.

7. Rashomon

• Japan, 1950.
• Crime drama.
• Duration: 88 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

Akira Kurosawa's film for the first time in cinematography shows the same event from different points of view.

In the ruins of the stone gate Rashomon are hiding from a thunderstorm a woodcutter and a monk who testified at the trial in the case of the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife. They are joined by a passer-by, to whom they tell the story. However, the versions of the participants do not match.

The revolutionary film about the search for truth has won numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

8. Roman holidays

• USA, 1953.
• Comedy, melodrama.
• Duration: 118 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

For her role as a princess in this romantic comedy, actress Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for the first time, as well as a Golden Globe and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award. Two more Oscars were awarded for Best Costume Design and Best Screenplay.

The American Film Institute ranked "Roman Holiday" fourth on the list of "100 Most Passionate Films in 100 Years" and "Top 10 Films in 10 Classics." The US National Council has entered the tape in the register of films of special cultural, historical or aesthetic significance.

9.12 angry men

• USA, 1956.
• Legal drama.
• Duration: 96 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 9.

This is a film adaptation of the play by Reginald Rose about a meeting of 12 jurors. Film critics have called it one of the greatest legal films in history. The film received the main prize of the Berlin Film Festival and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award, and also entered the top IMDb.

10. There are only girls in jazz

• USA, 1959.
• An eccentric comedy.
• Duration: 119 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

Billy Wilder's film tells the story of the adventures of two musicians forced to hide in female guise from the gangsters chasing them. Best American Comedy of All Time grossed $ 25 million, won an Oscar and three Golden Globes.

11. Psycho

• USA, 1960.
• Psychological horror, horror.
• Duration: 109 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

At the heart of "Psycho" is the story of a true maniac, described by Robert Bloch. Alfred Hitchcock paid the writer $ 9,000 for the rights to film adaptation and bought almost all copies of the novel of the same name to keep the ending of the film a secret.

As a result, the painting grossed $ 32 million and won several awards, including a Golden Globe.

12. To Kill a Mockingbird

• USA, 1962.
• Drama.
• Duration: 129 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

The film by Robert Mulligan tells the story of a single father Atticus Finch, who works as a lawyer and must defend an African American in court. Later, the American Film Institute recognized Atticus (played by Gregory Peck) as the most positive character in history.

The film based on the novel by Harper Lee won three Oscars, three Golden Globes and an award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, the British newspaper The Guardian named To Kill a Mockingbird the best film adaptation of all time.

13. Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Atomic Bomb

• USA, UK, 1964.
• Black comedy.
• Duration: 95 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 4.

The film is about an obsessed American general who, bypassing the US high command, organizes a nuclear attack on the USSR. In IMDb's list of the best films, she ranks above the rest of Stanley Kubrick's masterpieces. Unsurprisingly, the film is a masterful mockery of the Cold War arms race.

Doctor Strangelove has won numerous awards, including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, and is ranked third on the American Film Institute's Best Comedy List.

14. Andrey Rublev

• USSR, 1966.
• Drama. biography.
• Duration: 175 minutes - short version, 205 minutes - full.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

A two-part film by Andrei Tarkovsky shows the events in Russia at the beginning of the 15th century through the eyes of the icon painter Andrei Rublev.

The film won the prize of the International Film Press Federation at the Cannes Film Festival. Ranked among the 250 Best IMDb Movies and 100 Greatest Cinema by Empire Magazine.

15. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

• USA, 1966.
• Drama.
• Duration: 131 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

Starring Elizabeth Taylor is considered a social drama classic. The viewers were shocked by the family conflicts and abuse they saw on the screen.

The latest black and white Warner Bros. received as many as five Oscars and three awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, entered the US National Film Register.

16. Manhattan

• USA, 1979.
• Drama, comedy.
• Duration: 96 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 0.

The film about the throwing of an elderly intellectual became a hit at the box office and over the years gained cult status. According to critics, this is Woody Allen's best work.

Manhattan has received numerous awards including Cesar, BAFTA and National Society of Film Critics.

17. Elephant Man

• USA, UK, 1980.
• Drama.
• Duration: 124 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

The film by David Lynch is based on the biography of the famous 19th century British man Joseph Merrick, the main "exhibit" of a traveling circus with growths on his body. One day, Dr. Trives (played by Anthony Hopkins) discovers an elephant man and decides to help him.

The film won three BAFTA, Cesar and Grand Prix awards at the Avoriaz International Fantastic Film Festival.

18. Raging bull

• USA, 1980.
• Film biography.
• Duration: 129 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

Martin Scorsese directed this film based on the memoirs of American boxer Jake Lamotte. The role of an indomitable and cruel athlete was played by Robert De Niro. The film took first place in the list of the 10 best films about sports and was included in the list of the 100 best American thrillers.

Raging Bull has won two Oscars, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and many other awards.

19. Schindler's List

• USA, 1993.
• Historical drama.
• Duration: 195 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 9.

The most expensive and commercially successful black and white film: with a budget of $ 25 million, worldwide box office gross was $ 321 million. This work by Steven Spielberg about businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved over a thousand Jews, has won numerous awards: seven Oscars, seven BAFTAs, three Golden Globes and one Grammy.

20. Ed Wood

• USA, 1994.
• Tragicomedy biopic.
• Duration: 127 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

Tim Burton's film hilariously recounts the life of the worst director in Hollywood history. This comedy-drama brought together the stars of the first magnitude - Johnny Depp, Bill Murray, Sarah Jessica Parker and Martin Landau. The latter received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role (he played Bela Lugosi).

In total, "Ed Wood" received as many as 25 awards, including two Oscars (in addition to Landau's work, critics appreciated the make-up artists).

Would you like to add to this list? Then write the name of your favorite black and white movie in the comments.